Lines
by SilverInk.IvoryQuill
Summary: There was always this invisible line in between them, separating them somehow. They were a team, but never more. Now, facing the end, maybe it is time to do something about this...
1. Never crossed the line

**Dear Inkdrops, in honour of Endgame (and all other Marvel movie of course), I decided to write another Fury/Hill themed story. Fury might be a bit OOC, but on the other hand, who knows what his going on in the mind of his? I hope you enjoy the story anyway.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.**

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**Never crossed the Line**

It was dark and he had no recollection of where he was. Was he laying on the floor? Or was that water around him? He couldn't quite say it. After a time he became aware that he was drifting, without any apparent purpose or destination. He knew how he had ended here, of course. There had been an energy signature. A helicopter had crashed. They had gotten out of the car, then, suddenly, his partner had vanished in front of his very eye. She had simply disappeared. In the last second, he had managed to grab the transponder, to send a call for help to his long-lost friend who was probably too far away to hear him anyway. Then he had feel himself dissolve as well.

Nick Fury had never been afraid of dying. If you were, you couldn't do the job he had been doing so well for so many years. People often claimed he was suicidal, that wasn't true though. Really not. He had far too much to live for, at least most days he thought so. Like saving the world for example. He didn't really feel dead though, but what did he know? After all, his own death had been faked. Maybe he should have asked Coulson after all. Or Melinda May, from what he had heard through the grapewine. Or maybe even Loki. Though he was convinced that bastard would have just lied to his face. So rather not.

He liked to think that he had always tried to do what was best for the world, even though his means were often unconventional, to put it mildly. If there was something like heaven and hell somewhere (and he wasn't convinced that there was), maybe he deserved to burn in the latter. Maybe not. Who knew? Definitely not him, while he was randomly hanging here in nothingness, probably not getting anywhere. He was sure about one thing though.

He had just lost his year-long deputy director and partner. Of course Fury had alway known that this could and probably would happen one day. Either she would get killed in their line of work, or she would finally have enough of his methods and walk away. The second scenario was far more likely, for the simple reason that the woman was an exceptional soldier and agent who would be really hard to get rid off. Also, he knew that he could be a reckless idiot sometimes and even though his companion had always done what had to be done, she was far more by the book. Hell, she had nearly sold him out to the World Security Council a couple of times!

Maybe their different approaches made their combined work such a success. He had already been afraid of her not coming back after HYDRA rose out of the shadows. That she would go down in what had once been the Triskelion. But no, she had responded to his call. Had firstly helped to save Captain fucking America's ass and then played her part in faking his death. Her perfomance even fooled Romanoff, and that was something!  
Working for Stark industries had been her idea, and even though Fury had the impression she grudgingly learned to respect Stark and genuinely liked Pepper Potts, the woman had been his double agent as well. She had known about Theta Protocol and fought on the helicarrier in Sokovia, even though she knew it would might cost her her job and make her a hunted individual.  
Maybe she had always planned to join the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. again, he mused. As an emergency escape, if things went South. It would have been a good plan. After all, Coulson had been one of her closest friends once. A good agent, but more impotantly, a good man.

Probably working with the Avengers after Ultron had been the right thing for her in the end, especially having Rogers, Romanoff and Barton around. He wouldn't lie to himself, he had missed her for the time since she had stopped being his deputy. Well, he had appreciated her before, sure, but he had learned that even he only really appreciated things if he didn't have them anymore. What was the most unsettling thing was that he hadn't just felt her absence in a professional way but also on a very profound personal level. He had even missed her pragmastism and dry humour more than Coulson's big heart and compassion or Danver's snarkiness and attitude. But that couldn't be.

Nick Fury didn't do personal. Not anymore. He didn't do trust. He didn't do real attachment. (With a few exception. Like, four maybe. And the fucking not-cat.) But he strictly didn't do relationships. And especially he didn't do love. Besides the paranoia that they would double-cross him at some point, he would put any partner in imminent danger. Asking that from another person was impossible, even to his standards.

When Stark had finally fired her after what people had nicknamed the "Civil War" and she had joined him again, he had been relieved. Not that he would ever tell her, but he was pretty sure she knew anyway. Though all of a sudden, he wished he had really, verbally told her. Told her a lot of things. That she had always been his first choice when it came to having his back. That he was grateful for her being there when it mattered the most. That he would watch her six when she needed it. That he would kill everyone very slowly and very torturously if they ever dared to put a finger on her. That he cared. That she looked lovely in a red dress.

Where did those thoughts come from? Just from floating with nothing to do? Was he going crazy? Or had that been here all the time and had just been too busy and too stubborn to let his thoughts wander there? Nicholas J. Fury tried to push all those unwanted pictures away from his mind (not that they were unpleasant, and that was exactly the problem here), but it didn't quite work. They just kept coming.

Her picture on her military file, looking so young but already such a decorated officer. Her at their first meeting, wearing slacks and a navy blazer. Her dressed up to the nines in a golden dress for an undercover mission. Her sparing with Romanoff. Her on the bridge of a heli carrier, barking commands. Her shooting a bullet, killing the Chitauri behind him. Her standing in front of the door of his safe house, hair and clothes wet from the rain and clinging to her body, doing nothing to disguise how trained she was. Then the image of her disappearing in front of his eyes. Her expression not pained or scared, but terribly confused.

He had seen horrors during his life as a soldier and as a spy, pain, suffering, misery. Aliens and gods (well they were also aliens, but anyway). But in all that time, nothing had scarred him that much as this.

And that was, when in the darkness and stillness and forgetfulness of oblivion Nick Fury realised that he indeed loved Maria Hill. And he would never have the chance to do anything about that.

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**Thank you for reading!**


	2. No personal Attachment

**Thank you guys for reading the last chapter and your reviews!**

**I decided to continue the story for a bit. There will be no Endgame spoilers in this chapter. Some Agents of SHIELD references though.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel **

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**No personal Attachment**

If this was death, it was kind of comfortable, or so Maria Hill thought. She couldn't quite say where she was, her surrounding didn't seem to have colours. But it wasn't black. It was more like being in a prism, all colours mixed together until you would see white. Only that there was no white either. Maybe she had become a pixel, a part of something bigger. Recycled into the universe. The longer she thought about it, the more likely this became. After all, she had just seem herself dissolve into - into what? Little Maria would have called it "pixie dust " and laughed because in the end everything was going to be okay as long as pixie dust was involved. But mature Maria (or rather mature Pixel?! Wait, what?!) didn't believe in pixie dust anymore.

She didn't believe in easy solutions, because someone always had to make hard calls. More often than not, it had been her.

She didn't believe in "best friends forever" because at some point, most best friends became couples (Tony and Pepper) or had a huge fallout (Steve and Tony or Mack and Hunter). Or one was either killed (Coulson), brainwashed by Loki (Barton), abducted by Hydra and then brainwashed (Bucky) or thrown into the ocean to suffer permanent brain damage (Leopold Fitz).

She didn't believe in happy endings, at least not for herself. Damn it, she had been a soldier and agent for the bigger part of her life, how high were the chances for living happily ever after? As you can guess, not very high indeed. It didn't matter though, Maria wouldn't have chosen differently any day.

She didn't believe in love. Well, at least not in love at first sight. That was bullshit and something people made cheesy movies about, fantasies that were only disappointments in reality. For Maria Hill, love was not about being romantic. It was not about hearts and flowers and rings. It was about commitment, about backbone, about trust. About standing up against the world for it. Like she did for S.H.I.E.L.D. Like she sometimes did for Nick Fury.

Wait what?!

She tried to shake her head until she realized that apparently she didn't have one anymore. No no no, she didn't love Fury. Definitely not. Never had. Even though people whispered so behind her back. Called her his eye-candy and what not She knew that was not true. He had picked her for her skills, nothing else. He was her boss, they were colleagues, but they weren't even friends. Coulson and Romanoff and Barton (even though he could be so annoying) were her friends, but not him. He was trouble, only trouble wherever he went and usually it was hers to clean up.

His recklessness had turned out to be a continuous source of work for her over the years during her career as a field agent and later as Deputy Director. She really had considered walking out on him a couple of times - but she had never followed through with it. Not really. Not after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell and she got the job at Stark Industries. She had always been in contact with him too, had always worked for Fury in a way. Then the fight at the helicarrier, Sokovia, crazier even than New York, by his side again. Working for the Avengers had been great even though she had sometimes thought about joining Coulson and his secret S.H.I.E.L.D. again. Then the Civil War because of those morons and their egos and well, for once she couldn't agree with regulations. Fired, an outlaw of sorts, reunited with someone who had besides her in the shadows all along - Fury.

It seemed they never stayed together but also always found their way back to each other. Some people would say it was fate. Some people would say it was romantic. She would say it was a cosmic joke, right?

Besides, even if there were any feelings from her side, just hypothetically, there was no way in heaven or hell that he could ever reciprocate those feelings. Fury didn't love people, that just sounded wrong. He loved his work more than anything, more than life itself, that she knew. And he did like some people like Coulson and Romanoff and Rogers and he disliked or hated others such as Loki, but that was it. Oh well, he did love his cat though.

Theoretically, he could have had someone, of man was a master spy, if he wanted, he could have hidden a potential partner from almost everyone. Nobody in the Agency and probably out of the Agency ever really knew Nicholas J. Fury. He had too many secrets. For example: Who was the beautiful blonde pilot whose picture Maria had found him staring at some time during their early days of acquaintance? He had been in his office and she, extremely outraged about a report she had just received, had barged in without knocking. Even though the man had tried to hide it, Maria had still seen part of the photo together with his melancholic, almost tender expression. She had not given it much thought at that time, filed it away in her brain for later. Only with years of experience the Deputy Director had realized that nobody ever produced that look on Fury's face. The pilot seemed to be the one that got away. A wave of jealousy surged up inside of what was left of Maria - and the train of thoughts stopped.

What did that say about her?

That her ego was too big? That she wanted to be his first? That she cared more than she would admit? That she wanted him to care about her, not only as an agent but as a person?

(Strictly speaking, as she was probably already dead, this whole self- evaluation was very likely pretty pointless. Because she would never see him again. Fuck, that hurt more than she would have thought. But maybe, just maybe, if they could get out of this mess...)

In any case, it was dangerous. It would destroy everything she had thought to know about herself. It was unprofessional and it would jeopardise her missions.

Personal attachment could kill in their line of work, every rookie knew that. With your partner in the field with you, you couldn't think clearly. It was a really bad idea. That was why S.H.I.E.L.D. had regulations.

"But you aren't S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore!" a treacherous little voice whispered somewhere.

That was a fact, yes. There weee no rules for her anymore. Well, weren't they doomed anyway?

Maybe they could be doomed together. Back to back against the wall. That sounded almost romantic in its own way. After all, she had already called him "Nick" and he hadn't argued against it. Not a lot of people dared that, she reckoned. It had just slipped out and it had felt right. Nice even.

Fuck, so far to "no personal attachment".

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**Thank you so much for reading! Do you want to read more? Let me know!**


	3. No time no place

**Dear Inkdrops,**

**Thank you so much for reading and your feedback. This was supposed to be the last chapter but then my muse told me no and now it is not going to be the end but just another step on the journey. I hope you enjoy.**

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**No time no place **

He felt it before he could see it. Like a sailor who knew the wind was going to change. There was a ripple somewhere and the ripple would get bigger until it would be a huge riptide, bringing devastation. Or salvation. And exactly that was what happened. The tide was suddenly breaking over Fury, ripping through the dark, flipping his bodyless existence around like a ping pong ball. (At least that was what it felt like. Technically that was probably all bullshit. But Fury was no scientist and currently he couldn't give a fuck.) Well, if this was the end, at least it was happening, better than just floating and sulking over missed opportunities. Over Maria Hill.

Maria Hill. As far as last thoughts went, her face was definitely a good one. Fury tried to hold on to the picture while the terrors were raging on. How well did he know it! The curve of her lips, the shape of her eyes, the way her hair fell out of her ponytail and into her face. Again he asked herself when she had gotten under his skin like that. And why. And how.

Suddenly, his knees hit the asphalt with a thud and a stinging pain went up his spine. Wait. Knees, spine - he had a body again. So did that mean he was still alive? He came to his feet and frantically looked around, his instincts kicking in.

New York? Check. Chaos? Check. Screaming people? Check. Cars crashing as suddenly more and more people appeared out of the blue? Check. That explained things. Kind of. Seemed as if they were all coming back. Maria? Where the fuck was Maria? She had disappeared before him, she should be back already!

The breaks of a car ripped him out of his musings as the vihicle came to a stop just inches away from him. Shouting obscenities, the driver started to stear the car around him while Fury was still glued to the spot, trying to figure out a game plan.

Then someone was pulling him off the street and on the sidewalk by one arm, no exactly gently.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed for goodness sake?!" that someone shouted in his ear.

He couldn't care less about the tone though, not when it was the only voice he had been longing to hear. Turning towards the short woman next to him, he wrapped her in his arms, for the first time in their time of knowing each other allowing any kind of physical closeness towards her. For a short moment, her body went rigid until she relaxed against him, hugging him back.

Also he could hear the well-masked fear in the statement, fear not for herself but for him. Hell, it had been quite a long time since someone had showed that kind of emotion. Most people rather wanted him gone. Somehow it didn't surprise him how well she fit against him. When she pulled back, her hands still resting on his forearms as if to make sure that he wouldn't disappear again, her eyes flickered over his face, obviously checking for any signs of injury. While he did the same, he realized a nasty bruise forming on her right cheekbone. Gently he turned her chin to the side with his thumb, trying to ignore the little shiver that went through his partner.

"What happened?" he asked. His voice sounding exactly like years ago, apparently without any damage.

She frowned a bit which was quickly replaced by a wince.

"I just materialized on top of a car. Well, crashed on it and then rolled off it before I knew what was happening," she admitted. "Apocalypse is going on again, apparently, so we have to get to Stark Tower for equipment."

That was the Maria he knew, straight to the point and always ready to adapt and to act. Fury nodded.

"Alright. Any clue how much time has passed since we disappeared?"

"No idea and I doubt anyone is in the mood to give information right now, so let's move!"

"Okay!"

Keeping as close to the walls of the building as possible, they made their way through the chaos and the panic. Of course he knew where the Stark-Tower, or rather, the Avengers-Tower was, in the heart of the City, easy to find. Suddenly, Maria grabbed his sleeve.

"Nick!", she called out, " it is no use. The street is blocked, we will never get there in time."

"Well, any other deas?" he shouted back. The woman nodded courtly.

"I do, follow me!"

She turned right at the next intersection, running down the street. After about fifteen minutes walking and running (he had to admit, he was a bit out of shape after all), they suddenly stood in front of an average looking appartment building. He recognized the street name right away, this was where she lived. Or had lived. Another proof how deep she had gone under his skin - he knew no other agent's private address, only hers. Though he had never been here, of course.

Apparently the door code at the front door was unchanged as well as the lock, so it was no problem getting into a medium sized flat on the third floor. Scanning every room for intruders or change, Maria seemed satisfied.

"Nobody has been here," she commented, wiping her finger over a shelf.

The dust that came up was thick, accumulated by years. But what really caught his attention was the small digital clock on her kitchen counter.

"Maria," he called out hoarsely, "it has been five years!"

In an instant, she was beside him, wiping her hand over her face as if she couldn't quite believe it.

"Damn it," he could hear her mutter, but she composed herself quickly. "I don't know what is still edible here, but there is bottled water in a cupboard next to the fridge as well as canned food. I will get the radio equipment."

When she walked out of the room again, Fury realized that his former sidekick had basically just ordered him to cook and that he had to choices.

A) refuse and look like either an idiot or a sulking child or

B) do it and risk a whole new level of awkwardness

It wasn't really a question, was it?

While rummaging through the cupboards, he realized her home was as organized as her office, everything impeccably labelled. Thankfully electricity still seemed to work, he found out. He finally settled on some pasta and also started cooking the canned sauce. Not a gourmet feast but better than nothing. While searching for pots and plates he had found what must be her alcohol stash, one of the bottles of wine and the super expensive scotch (why did she have that?) should still be drinkable, though he wasn't quite sure whether this was the right time for it. Just when he wanted to put it back, he more felt than saw her entering the kitchen behind him.

"You found it, I see," she remarked with a dry undertone he couldn't quite place.

"Your liqour cabinet? Seems like it. Would you like water or wine?"

"We might die so why not drink wine," she argued and he was tempted to agree, "and no, I didn't mean my small collection, I meant the scotch. This is my 'very-very-bad-day-scotch'."

"I am amazed there is still so much left in it. After all, you used to work for me."

"You don't know how often I buy new bottles," she deadpanned, but then her expression morphed into something a bit softer. "But to be honest Sir, working for you wasn't _that_ bad."

"Drop the 'Sir' Maria," he ordered as he turned around to stir the sauce again, missing the small genuine smile she that blossomed on her face.

When they finally sat at her kitchen table, facing each other, it struck Fury how oddly domestic this seemed and how oddly he was not bothered by it. It was a quick meal, after all, they might have the world to safe, but nevertheless he treasured it.

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**Comments my way please!**


	4. Well-known strangers

**Thank you for reading up to chapter 4! **

**I am usually planning the chapters and then they turn out totally differently, so please let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel**

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**Well-known strangers**

If having a casual dinner with your boss was weird, sleeping in you flat with your boss was even weirder. And gave you some weird ideas. That were possible unprofessional. But after trying to radio Stark Tower, The Avengers Facility in upstate NY, Hank Pym's Laboratory and even Coulson's team without success and then getting depressing news from Wakanda, it might be the most reasonable thing to do. Coming back from nothingness was catching up with both of them and even with lots of coffee, their eyelids were getting heavy. Sleeping it off before somehow trying to "borrow" a jet from Stark Tower next seemed to be the most reasonable thing to do. After all, both of them could already tell that the next days would be demanding - if they survived.

Thankfully Maria did have a spare bedroom, they had to make up the bed again and get the dust off the nightstand but the rest was fine. She even managed to find a pair of trackpants and a shirt that fit him, when she handed it over the woman couldn't quite meet his eye.

Especially not when he raised an eyebrow, a wry sign of amusement in their current shitty situation. She sighed.

"It's not what it looks like."

To her surprise, he chuckled.

"Hill, now you sound like a teenager. You don't have to justify anything."

The woman blushed, then tried to shrug it off.

"I think they were Coulson's or Barton's, I am not sure. Or it could have been Romanoff wearing their clothes. All of them used to crash here from time to time."

She smiled sadly. These S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the Avengers had been her family. Where were they now?

"You were a good team," Fury remarked.

"We were a good team too."

He scoffed.

"You hated me."

"I never hated you, Nick. I didn't approve of some things you did - well, most things actually - but looking back, I see a reason behind most of it. If I wouldn't have wanted to work with you, I could have quitted."

"Or more likely, you would have stayed to keep me from making what you considered a mess. Even though you didn't approve."

"Fair enough. In any case, I did stay," she argued, lifting her chin.

"In any case, I kept you," he contested straight away.

"But you didn't want someone to always agree with you," the woman analysed, " do you know what Agent Ward said to me while I was trying to keep him busy and buy Coulson some time to get to his plane?"

Her former S.O. rose an eyebrow.

"He was so nice to inform me that 'a lot of S.H.I.E.L.D. lost faith in you' when you made me deputy. And that 'if you wanted eye candy around then you could at least pick Romanoff'."

Her former boss barked out a laugh.

"That asshole. I assume you know I picked you for different reasons. And Romanoff would have been a terrible deputy at that time. She developed though. Must have been the good influence."

Of course Maria had always known that Fury was far to clever to pick a woman just for her boobs, but hearing it made her stomach flutter just the same.

"Not sure whether it was my influence. I think it was something she always had but never showed. Now, I think I will get some sleep now, I set my alarm on six hours. Is that alright?"

"Yes, will do." He nodded in confirmation. When she had already turned around, he called after her. "Hill... I would have also picked you as eye candy."

Her posture didn't change, she was far too good for such a rookie mistake, but a smile that he could not see played around the edges of her mouth. When she walked out of the room, Maria could still feel his eye on her and not for the first time she wondered what he saw. For the first time (conciously) though she didn't worry about whether he deemed her good enough to co-lead S.H.I.E.L.D. or to babysit the Avengers - on the contrary. Her thoughts were far more...ordinary. The world was ending and the former deputy of the world's mightiest intelligence agency was wondering whether a man deemed her attractive. How ridiculous.

When she had changed her sheets and was dressed in more comfortable clothes, she fell on her bed and was asleep before she could collect any more thoughts. There were no dreams, a dark void until the shrill ringing of her alarm ripped her out of it. Maria was satisfied finding out that she could still snap from sleep to full alert, another prove her instincts were still doing it. There was a moment when she was unsure what to wear - until she started to narrow it down for tactical reasons.

Something she could move well and fight in. Something that would not rip. Something where she could keep weapons in. After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the re-build of S.H.I.E.L.D. (without her) she had locked away all her agency-related tactical gear somewhere else, somewhere not connected to her person. Well, working for Stark she had been smartly dressed most of the times anyway. All those blazers and pencil skirts and dresses that were so not her - Maria actually preferred jeans and leather jackets, so that was what she picked out to wear now. Her hair braided back tightly, she left the bedroom just to be greeted by the smell of fresh coffee. Apparently someone else had been awake even before her.

Fury stood with the back against the sink, a steaming cup in his hands. He gave her a once over and Maria was not quite sure what to make of wasn't making her particularly uncomfortable, it was rather confusing. To be looked at, by him, with intent. Normally his eyes had just flitted over her, checking for signals (he was always so alert - or paranoid), but never giving her any particular attention after all these years working together. He had known she would come to him if something was wrong, he had trusted her in a way.

"Like a burned out marriage, people relying on each other but still always close to divorcing." - That thought came unbidden into her head, making it hard to keep her face emotionless.

She had never thought about him that way. Not that she remembered. Or cared to remember.

"What is the plan?" she wanted to know.

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**I finally got through this chapter! Thank you for reading!**


	5. If today is our las day

**Dear Inkdrops,**

**honestly, I was blown away by the response to the last chapter. Thank you so much for your continued support!  
(As you might have noticed, I added some time between the reversal of the snap and the "Endgame" because you know...reasons...)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.**

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**Îf today is our last day**

It took Fury a second to realize Maria had said something to him. To anyone else, a second might not be a long time, but in their business a second could decide about life or death. And Nicholas J. Fury was not someone to EVER NOT be a 100% alert. At least he had thought so. Until now. He chided himself, that was not supposed to happen. He had seen Maria day after day in her S.H.I.E.L.D. issued catsuit, the fabric basically glued to her body, and his thoughts had never slipped and now, as she was standing in front of him in this biker chick look, it had blown him away, leaving him unable to not give her a once-over.

She had not even made an effort with her outfit, as far as he could judge, a pair of nice jeans that still weren't too tight, well-worn boots, a simple shirt and a leather jacket. No make-up (well, what would one want make-up for in this situation?), not that she needed it anyway.

"Well, the plan as nobody is answering the radio calls, not even Potts, we are going to drive to the Avenger's facility and see for ourselves. My gut feeling tells me there is something happening. Or will be happening."

"Wait, so you say we are driving or flying or whatever to upstate N.Y. on the off-chance that there might be some of those chaotic people hanging around who might even be still fighting against each other? Why on earth should we do that? Just because you have a feeling?"

He could see her reluctance, but also her frustration with having so little intel. Understandable, yes, but right now, he needed her to trust him. He needed her at his side.

"What would you have us do then? Stay here, do nothing and hope the answers will come? There is chaos at the moment -"

He motioned to the muted TV in the living room, "but I bet this is not all. I bet there is more coming. This Thanos bastard has been around for too long, somehow I doubt that even Carol can blow him away that easily. And I have seen her split a whole spaceship in two, so that means something."

"Thanos? Carol? What are you talking about?" Maria looked confused.

"Thanos is the reason why Loki came to Earth, why we dissolved into thin air. He is a titan and his aim is to wipe out half of the universe," he summarized, keeping his face emotionless.

"And how do you know that Nick?"

"I hacked your laptop to hack the Avenger's Facility. Truth be told, their security network is very good, I am fairly certain I would have never been able to do it without the backdoor that you had already installed. How did you get in? I mean, you are an adequate hacker, but not a match for Romanoff or Stark."

She shrugged her shoulders defensivly.  
"A favour from Coulson, I borrowed his hacker girl. Agent Johnson doesn't know exactly what she hacked there, I only let her do parts, but honestly, no wonder she hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. all those years ago. And her powers are extrodinary. Anyway, who is Carol?"

Did he just imagine it or was there jealousy in her voice?

"Carol Danvers was an Air Force Pilot. She worked as a test pilot for a Kree developer called Mar-Vell who lived undercover here on Earth and was involved in Project Pegasus. In a crash, Carol absorbed a high energy core and was able to emmit it, in fact she can shoot a kind of photon blasts. Due to a blood transformation, she basically became Kree and started to fight the Scrulls. Coulson and I first met her when, because of a fight, she had crash-landed on Earth. She was the first super hero I met and probably the most powerful I have ever seen. There was another fight, it turned out the Kree were the bad guys and Carol went away to search for a home for the Scrulls. She left me a pager to call her in case of emergency and that's what I did before we disappeared - so she might have come. It would definitely improve our chances, given she doesn't pick a fight with the other Avengers first."

"How likely is that?" Maria asked, concern evident in her voice.

"It depends. She was a soldier, a lot like Rogers, who went rogue. There might be some common ground there. It is quite likely that she will butt heads with Stark, they are both snarky, arrogant and think they know best. But I have to admit, I can't be certain in these predictions, it has been decades since I have last seen her."

"You missed her."

It was a statement, not an accusation, a bit surprised maybe, as if his partner had not thought that he was able of this emotion. Apparently she didn't expect an answer and under normal circumstances she would not have gotten one. He had no reason to justify anything in front of anyone.

"Hill, we both know our jobs are not made for missing people. Our jobs are made for moving on. We-"

"But still, I am right, Sir, am I not?" she asked, emphasizing his title. Coldly.

He could see but mostly feel the defensivness radiating off her and put down his coffee cup.

"If there were any feelings of that kind, I wasn't aware of them. We weren't lovers, we were people thrown together by circumstance, maybe you could call us friends," he simply answered, "she wasn't here and I didn't expect her to be. And in some ways, it was probably for the best not to have a powerful, over-confident Kree-human-hybrid messing up the power scales on Earth."

Why was he trying to set her on ease? The last time he had tried to make someone feel better had been... he didn't even know when. But since coming back from this weird oblivion, since realizing that she meant more to him than he had always thought, the woman in front of him gave him acutely weird feelings that he didn't even remember feeling. Ever.

Fury noticed that she had narrowed her eyes.

"Are you certain that you are alright? Nicholas J. Fury never explains anything personal. Not even to me. Especially not to me."

So she had noticed it.

"Maria, we are probably not going to survive this, one way or the other," he answered gruffly, silently enjoying how unfamiliar and sweet her first name tasted on his tongue.

"But I have no intention to die with you resenting me for an unnecessary reason."

He could see how she straightened her spine a little, as if she was readying herself for an attack.

"Why does it matter?"

The sharpness of her voice was a stark contrast to the hint of insecurity in her eyes, a look that he had never seen on her. It was as if she was begging him for a certain answer but nevertheless dreading it, unwilling to leave well-known territory on her own accord. Not that he could blame her. Fury knew what he wanted to answer, what he should answer given that this could be the last time they had a proper conversation, but years of shutting everyone out had left him unable to do so. Therefore he chose the other alternative: Non-verbally showing Maria what he meant.

With one step he was in front of her, pulling her chin up with his right hand to cover her lips with his. The surprised, undignified sound she made would have made him laugh or frown in any other situation, but right now he was too distracted by the scent of her hair and the warmth radiating off her. Just when he wanted to pull away he felt her lips softening against him. Her arms closed around his neck and she was stepping closer until he could feel her pressing against him. Fury let his left hand wander into her hair, using it as leverage to tilt her head the way he wanted, to get better access to her cheeks and down to her jaw. But true to her character, the woman in his arms pulled her head back so his hands settled on top of her shoulders. He looked down at her and found her staring up at him with a mixture of wonder, passion and anger in her eyes.

"You aren't my boss anymore Nick," she hissed.

Before he could ask her what the fuck she had meant with that Maria had risen to her tiptoes and started to kiss him in return, using his surprise to take control of their movements until he found himself pushed back against the kitchen bench. Under normal circumstances, being cornered would have either bothered Fury or pissed him off, but in this case, with her lithe body keeping his in check, he wasn't going to complain. Or going to push her away. Though on the other hand, he couldn't let her have all the control, right?

* * *

**And that's a little cliffhanger here, I am going to switch back to Maria's POV in the next chapter.**

**Stay happy and healthy!**


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